Method for making a continuous carrier for electrical or mechanical components

ABSTRACT

A new continuous carrier for surface mount or other electrical or mechanical parts, and a method of fabricating same, formed by molding one or a pair of continuous flexible film strips to a side or sides of a series of desired electrical or mechanical components such that the components are attached to the single strip or filament or suspended between the film strips or filaments. The film strips may be provided with sprocket holes or other equivalent structure for advancing the film strips during the molding process and for reeling up the resultant assembly onto a reel for sale or distribution to a PCB assembler. The latter places the reel of molded parts onto a conventional feeding device. The parts are then separated from the supporting strips or filament, picked-up by a pick-and-place device and placed onto the PCB in the normal manner. The filament or strip may be constituted of plastic, paper or metal.

RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No.08/584,534, filed Jan. 11, 1996, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,706,952.

The invention is directed to a continuous carrier support for carryingelectrical or mechanical components for automatic placement on a printedcircuit board (PCB) or the like.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

Tape and reel supply of electrical parts for automatic pick-and-place bya mechanical or pneumatic device onto a PCB or similar device is wellknown in the art. See, for example, the description in copending U.S.application Ser. No. 08/084,579. In the conventional system, a plasticcarrier tape with sprocket holes along one or both edges is embossed toform a series of pockets into each of which is placed a separately madeelectrical component. The assembly is then covered with a plastic stripand reeled up on a reel. During assembly of the PCB, the carrier tape isunreeled, the plastic strip removed, and a pick-and-place head is usedto contact and pick a surface mount technology (SMT) component out of acarrier pocket and place it in a desired position, usually under controlof a computer, on one or more tinned PCB pads. The latter are usuallyprovided with solder paste that acts as a temporary adhesive to hold theSMT part onto the PCB pads during a subsequent solder reflow processwhich permanently bonds and electrically connects the part to the PCBcircuitry via the pads. This system has been successfully used for manyyears. However, there is a continuous trend toward reducing equipmentcosts and in particular assembly costs. The conventional embossedcarrier tape-assembly process is expensive, and has the furtherdisadvantage that it is not well suited for a mechanical pick-and-placedevice which has to penetrate into the cavity of the pocket in order togrip the component.

Commonly-owned U.S. Pat. No. 4,832,622 describes the manufacture of acontinuous strip of header components by continuous extrusion or bysemi-continous injection molding. In both cases, the entire header bodyof each component is molded of the same plastic material simultaneouslywith the plastic material that couples the header bodies together. Inthe case of the semi-continuous molding, the coupling for the headerbodies is a spine member that is molded simultaneously with the headerbodies and therefore must be of the same material. This scheme whichworks well suffers from the disadvantage of limited ability to adjust todifferent conditions. In particular, the scheme described in this patentis not doable for component coupling means that is preformed orconstituted of a different material than that of the component body.Moreover, the link between the components and the component couplingmeans is typically relatively strong, which requires a special cutter toseparate each component from its coupling means. Finally, the resultantproduct, as described, is not suitable for processing by pick-and-placedevices using a suction head.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

The principal object of the invention is a new continuous carrier forelectrical or mechanical parts that is less expensive, sufficientlyadjustable to accommodate electrical or mechanical components of anyshape, size, or configuration, and will work satisfactorily with eitheror both mechanical and pneumatic types of pick-and-place devices.

Another object of the invention is a new method of fabricating acontinuous carrier supporting certain types of electrical parts ormechanical parts, and in particular SMT components.

These and other objects are achieved in accordance with one feature ofthe invention by molding at least one continuous flexible film strip orfilament to a side of each of a series of desired electrical ormechanical components such that the components are supported by the filmstrip or filament. The molded connection between each of the componentsand its supporting strip or filament is such that the components arereadily separated from its supporting strip or filament in any one ofseveral ways, such as by pushing, pulling or cutting, without damage toit or its neighboring components.

A preferred embodiment of the invention comprises molding opposite sidesof a series of desired components to continuous flexible film stripssuch that the components are suspended between the film strips. The filmstrips may be provided with sprocket holes or other equivalent structurefor advancing the film strips during the molding process and for reelingup the resultant assembly onto a reel for sale or distribution to a PCBassembler. The latter places the reel of molded parts onto aconventional feeding device which can use the same sprocket holes orother equivalent structure for feeding the resultant carrier to, forexample, an automatic pick-and-place machine. The parts are thenseparated from the supporting strips, picked up by a conventionalpick-and-place device in the machine and placed onto the PCB in thenormal manner.

In this process according to the invention, no embossing step of aplastic carrier is required, no cover strip is needed to keep the partsfrom falling out of their respective pockets, and no assembly ofcomponents into the pockets is needed. The result is that the cost offabricating packaged parts on a continuous carrier tape for automaticplacement on PCBs is greatly reduced. In addition, the supporting stripor filament can be constituted of any material that can be attached tothe moldable region of the component while the latter is molded. Anotheradvantage achieved with the invention is that the component partssupported by the carrier strip or filament can be made readilyaccessible both to the normal suction head of a pneumatic pick-and-placedevice, as well as the normal gripper of a mechanical pick-and-placedevice. Still another advantage is that more parts per linear foot ofthe carrier is possible as the components can be more closely spaced.

A further advantage of the embodiment employing spaced strips on bothsides is that any difference in shrinkage between the component moldingand the carrier strips is not reflected in any loss in accuracy of anylocator means on the strip, such as, for example, drive holes.

The invention is especially useful for the fabrication of componentparts that include, as a major constituent, a molded plastic body.Preferably, the film strips or filaments are constituted of a materialthat is capable of withstanding the elevated temperatures required toinjection mold the plastic body of the components. The molded connectionof the strips or filament to the plastic component body is achieved, inaccordance with another aspect of the invention, by feeding the plasticstrips or filament into the injection mold so as to overlie, at least atone side, each mold section, clamping the strip or filament in thatposition, and then injecting molten plastic to form the molded body andattach or encapsulate the overlying strip or filament edge. The amountof overlap controls the pull-off strength of the components from thestrip or filament. Preferably, the overlap is chosen to provide apull-off force of between about 3-5 pounds per side strip.

The invention is applicable not only to injection molded insulatingplastic materials, but also to other similarly formable materials andprocesses. Typical insulating plastics such as ABS, PPA, polyesters, andpolycarbonates can be used to make insulating parts, as well aselastomeric materials. In addition, the parts can be madeelectrically-conductive by using electrically conductive plastics suchas compounding insulating material with stainless steel fibers, carbonfibers or carbon powder. The formable material can also include fibersfor reinforcement, such as glass fibers. In addition, the invention isalso applicable to the molding of metals, typically low-melting-pointmetals such as zinc. The process of injection molding of zinc is calleddie casting, but the process is very similar to the injection molding ofplastics in that the zinc is melted and as a fluid is injected underpressure into a die or mold using runners to direct the molten metalinto a cavity or cavities, and cores if desired may also be introducedto make more complex shapes. For further information, reference is madeto "Product Design For Die Casting", published in 1996 by the DiecastingDevelopment Council, 4th Ed., Ch. 4, Pgs. 97-102, whose contents areherein incorporated by reference. Thus, the terms "molded","injection-molded", "moldable", or "molding" as used herein should beunderstood in the broadest sense to include not only injection moldingof plastics or other formable materials but also die casting of metals.

The various features of novelty which characterize the invention arepointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming apart of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention,its operating advantages and specific objects attained by its use,reference should be had to the accompanying drawings and descriptivematter in which there are illustrated and described the preferredembodiments of the invention, like reference numerals or letterssignifying the same or similar components.

SUMMARY OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings:

FIG. 1A shows, schematically, a conventional reel of carrier parts;

FIG. 1B is an enlarged detail view of part of the conventional reel ofcarrier parts shown in FIG. 1A;

FIG. 2A is a schematic view of a reel according to the inventioncontaining one form of a carrier support in accordance with theinvention;

FIG. 2B is a plan view of part of the carrier support on the reel ofFIG. 2A;

FIG. 2C is an enlarged plan view of the carrier support of FIG. 2B;

FIG. 3 is a side view of the carrier support of FIG. 2C;

FIG. 4 is an end view of the carrier support of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a detail view of the carrier support of FIG. 3 along the line5--5;

FIGS. 6A and 6B are plan and side views of the carrier support after themolding step but before insertion of the pins;

FIGS. 7A, 7B, and 7C are plan, end and side views, respectively, of astrip of pins;

FIG. 8A is a perspective view schematically illustrating how the stripsare molded to the molded bodies of component parts inside a moldsection;

FIG. 8B is a cross-sectional detail view of part of the mold of FIG. 8A;

FIG. 9 is a schematic perspective view illustrating the fabrication of acontinuous carrier in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 10 is a schematic perspective view illustrating how individualcomponents can be separated from the carrier of FIG. 9 and picked up bya conventional pick-and-place system;

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of part of another series ofstrip-supported mechanical components, also showing one way ofincreasing the holding power of the strips;

FIG. 12 is a perspective view of part of another series ofstrip-supported components, also showing another way of separating acomponent from the strips;

FIG. 13 shows another form of structure for increasing the holding powerof a strip;

FIG. 14 is a perspective view of part of another series ofcarrier-supported components using both a strip and a monofilament;

FIG. 15 is an end view of the carrier of FIG. 14.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIGS. 1A and 1B are schematic views of a prior art reeled tape ofelectrical components. The reel 10 has reeled up on it a plastic tape 12which is embossed to form a series of pockets 14 into each of which isplaced a separately fabricated electrical component 16. The tape 12 hasa series of sprocket holes 18 along one edge for advancing the tape.After the components 16 have been loaded into the tape pockets 14, aplastic cover strip 20 is sealed over the filled pockets 14 to preventthe components from falling out when the strip is reeled onto orunreeled from the reel 10. As will be observed from FIG. 1B, thecomponents 16 typically have a flat top for receiving the end of asuction head for removing the component from the pocket and placing iton the PCB surface after the cover strip is removed. However, the part16 is at or below the tape surface, making it difficult to use amechanical gripper to remove the part, as the gripper would have to beinserted into the pocket 14 to grip the component sides below itsexposed top. Moreover, the cost of fabricating the embossed tape andassembling the separately made components 16 to the tape is relativelyhigh.

A principal feature of the invention is to encapsulate or attach one ora pair of carrier strips or filaments directly to a side portion of eachof the components while a molded part of the latter is molded. Theinvention, instead of separately making the electrical components andembossed tape and assembling them, integrates a molding step of thecomponents with attachment of the carrier support to a side portion ofeach component, hence eliminating the tape embossing step, theassembling step and the attachment of the cover strip step therebygreatly reducing the fabrication cost of a carrier strip loaded withelectrical components. In comparison with the scheme described in thereferenced commonly-owned patent, the invention allows the use of stripsor filaments that are not of the same material as that of the moldedcomponent portion, and provides a continuous supply strip of componentsthat allows the components to be readily separated from its supportingstrip or filament by simply pulling the component off of its attachment.

FIG. 2A shows a reel 21 according to the invention containing one formof a carrier supply strip 22 according to the invention, and FIG. 2B isan enlarged plan view of part of the carrier strip 22 according to theinvention supporting four components 24, in this instance pin headerswith two rows of electrically-conductive pins 26. In the enlarged viewof FIG. 2C, spaced plastic strips 28, 30 are provided from a reel,having been cut to the desired width and shape indicated in the figureby reference 32. The strip widths do not have to be the same. Along onestrip edge is provided a series of round sprocket holes 34, and alongthe corresponding edge of the other strip is provided a series of ovalsprocket holes 36. The round sprocket holes 34 are used to advance thestrip in controlled steps by any known indexing device such as acontrolled sprocket wheel. The oval holes 36, which are also engaged bya sprocket wheel, are slightly enlarged to accommodate variations andtolerences in the advancing drive.

The electrical components 24 in this embodiment are pin headers, two ofwhich are shown spaced apart in the longitudinal direction of thecarrier, and each of which comprises a molded plastic body 40 perforatedwith two rows of apertures 41 into which are inserted electrical pins26. Each header encapsulates edge regions 42 (FIG. 6A) along facingedges of the two strips 28, 30 which thus support the components 24between the strips. The resultant supply strip 22 of edge-supportedcomponents 24 can now be wound up on the reel 21 for use by a componentfeeding device used with a mechanical pick-and-place device for grippingthe component by one or more of its upstanding pins after it has beenseparated from its supporting strips 28, 30 for placement on a PCB. Ifinstead it is desired to use a pneumatic pick-and-place device, whichrequires a flat top surface for the suction head, a stiff plastic cover44, shown in phantom, may be detachably assembled to the header 24 tosupply the flat top, the cover 44 being removed from the header afterthe soldering step. FIG. 5 shows that an alignment notch 46 may bemolded into the side of each header 24 to aid the feeder and/orpick-and-place device in locating the header.

FIGS. 8A, 8B and 9 show one way by which the flexible strips 28, 30 canbe molded to the header components 24. A strip of plastic 48 pre-stampedwith the sprocket holes 34, 36 is supplied from a reel 50 and advancedby any known indexing mechanism, for example, sprocket wheels and asynchronous drive (not shown), through a conventional stamping die 52which configures and forms the two side strips 28, 30. While FIG. 9shows a starting strip 48 with the same width as the final product, andwith the stamper 52 removing the center strip section to form the twoside strips 28, 30, this is not essential. One can start with twoprestamped narrower strips or with a single narrower strip which isstamped or slit to form the two side strips 28, 30. The latter are thenprocessed 54 to encapsulate the strips 28, 30 into a series of moldedcomponents 24. One way of doing this, which is not to be consideredlimiting, is illustrated in FIGS. 8A and 8B. The strips 28, 30 areindexed over the mold base or lower cavity B of an injection mold, theupper cavity A of which is a mirror image of the lower cavity. The lowercavity contains two mold sections 60, each configured to mold one of theheader bodies 40. Each mold section 60 contains along opposite edgesrecessed regions 61 for receiving a strip (only the recess for the strip30 is shown). When the upper cavity part A is closed over the lowercavity part B, the strips 28, 30 are clamped between the two mold parts,shown schematically in FIG. 8B. When molten plastic is injected into theclosed mold in the usual way, the plastic body 40 of each header ismolded, simultaneously encapsulating the edge regions 42 of both of theflexible strips. The apertures 41 in the header body 40 may besimultaneously molded by means of core pins (not shown) in the moldhalves, or they can be punched in a subsequent step. Following cooling,the mold halves are opened, and the finished assembly 62 ejected fromthe mold, while simultaneously the assembly 62 is advanced to provide inthe opened mold the next strip sections to be encapsulated into the nextset of headers to be molded. The process is repeated until moldedheaders 40 have been attached to and suspended between the strips 28, 30over their entire length.

Typically, posts 63 are provided for alignment of the mold halves. Inaddition, pins 63A are shown in the mold for engagement of the sprocketholes 34 to ensure proper alignment of the strips to the component. Thepins 63A are shown enlarged for clarity. A recessed area 63B may beprovided downstream of the cavities 60 for receiving the molded assembly62 to prevent damage when the mold closes. In the schematic of FIG. 9,the processing stage 54 is in line in the multiple stage processingstarting from one supply reel 50 and ending at one take-up reel 21. FIG.8A also illustrates an alternative scheme wherein, following theprocessing stage 52, the strips are reeled up to form a further supplyreel 50A for processing stage 54, following which the strip-bodyassembly 62 is reeled up on a take-up reel 50B, which then acts as thesupply for the next stage 70, and so on. This alternative scheme ofreeling and unreeling for one or more stages can also be applied to theother stages. It will also be understood that, while only two moldcavities 60 have been shown for simplicity, more than two cavities canbe employed if desired to increase the number of parts per mold cycle.

Part of the assembly 62 in this intermediate condition following themolding operation is illustrated in FIGS. 6A and 6B for a dual rowheader containing seven apertures 41 in each row. One of the apertureopenings may be bevelled 64 for ease of insertion of the pins 26. Thepins 26 can be supplied from a reel 65 as a continuous strip 66 (seeFIGS. 7A-7C also) with reduced thickness regions 68 for separation ofthe pins in a conventional inserter machine 70, illustratedschematically in FIG. 9, which also inserts them into the apertures 40of the header bodies 40. If desired, a supply 72 of plastic caps 44 froma reel 74 is provided, individual caps 44 separated and attached to theheaders 24 in a machine 76, and the modified assembly, which correspondsto the pinned assembly 22 of FIG. 2B, reeled up on a reel 21 typicallywith interleaf layer 22A for distribution or sale to the PCB fabricator.

At the plant of the fabricator, the carrier 22 is unreeled from the reel21 and passed through a device 78 which pushes up (by means not shown)on each of the supporting tabs 29 of each of the strips 28, 30 withenough force, while the strips 28, 30 are tightly held, that thecomponent 24 separates from its carrier strips 28, 30 and, whilesupported, the component can be picked up by a conventionalpick-and-place device 80 having a suction head 82 which contacts andvacuum-attaches to the component cover 44. As the carrier 22 advances, asuction head 82 comes into position with each newly-severed component 24and carries it to the PCB, places the component, and then returns topick up another component from the carrier 22. The carrier stripresidues 84, together with the usual paper interleaf 22A, are guided toa separate accumulation area for disposal.

A feature of the invention is that electrical or mechanical componentsof most any size, shape or configuration can be accommodated on theflexible strips, provided that they include along their sides a moldableregion, by which is meant a region that is fabricated by molding of aplastic resin, or as indicated above, another moldable plastic ordie-cast metal material, and that will attach to the edges 42 of theplastic strips 28, 30. In the case of the header components 24 havingplastic bodies 40, they can be made with one, two, or more rowscontaining anywhere from 2-22 or more pins per row. To realize thismerely requires altering the width of each header, represented in FIG. 3by the dimension 90, and altering the overall width of the assembly,represented in FIG. 3 by the dimension 92. For the examples given, thedimension 90 can vary between 0.190-2.190 inches, and the dimension 92can vary between 1.260-2.835 inches for typical pin spacings of 0.100inches. These numbers are merely exemplary and are not to be considedlimiting.

The amount of the overlap of the edge regions 42 of the flexible strips28, 30 with the mold sections, and thus the degree of encapsulation orattachment, controls the amount of pull-off force needed to separateeach component 24 from its supporting strips. The pull-off force shouldbe at least a minimum amount, to ensure that the electrical components24 do not detach from their carrier during reeling and unreeling andnormal handling before being deliberately separated at a time justbefore being picked-up by the pick-and-place device 82. Similarly, thepull-off force should not exceed a maximum amount, to ensure that anyconvenient separator force or separating device can be used to reliablyseparate a component from its carrier strips 28,30 without causingdamage to the separated component or the components that remain behind.Experience has shown that, for the component examples given above, apull-off force of about 3-5 pounds per side is adequate to satisfy bothrequirements. This pull-off force is achieved by a molded region 42having a length indicated by 94 in FIG. 6A, for components of the sizeindicated above, preferably of about 0.2 inches, and an overlapindicated by 96 preferably of about 0.015-0.020 inches. Smallercomponents may use a smaller overlap, and larger components can use alarger overlap. In this regard, it is useful to provide separatingnotches 98 in both strips 28, 30 between the component supports. Thenotches 98 act to weaken the strip at the region of the notches and thusisolate adjacent components and prevent separating forces applied to onecomponent from being transmitted to and damaging adjacent components.Alternatively, the weakened strip regions can be supplied by a series ofperforations.

The invention is obviously not limited to pin header components and canbe applied to any type of electrical or mechanical component part thathave moldable side regions that can be molded to the flexible strips.Examples of other components are SMT jumpers or switches with plastichousings, plastic headers with sockets, and various mechanicalcomponents with plastic body parts or with die-cast metal parts. As afurther example, FIG. 11 shows a plastic part with a screw top 100mounted between a pair of carrier strips 102 with opposite side regionsof the plastic part 100 molded to the adjacent edges 104 of the carrierstrips.

Preferably, the flexible strips 28, 30 are constituted of a hightemperature plastic, such as polyesters commonly known as "Mylar". Thehigh temperature property is desirable as the strip edges will besubjected to the elevated temperature of the injected molten plastic ormetal used for molding the components and encapsulating the strips. Amolding plastic should similarly be able to withstand the elevatedtemperatures of the standard SMT reflow or wave-soldering process thatthe PCB will be subject to. Molding plastics with this property are wellknown in the art and are available commercially from suppliers such asGE and DuPont. These and other plastics will be obvious to those skilledin this art.

While, in the preferred embodiment, the strips are provided with builtin advancing means in the form of the sprocket holes, this is notessential. The downstream end of a strip can be attached to a take-upreel or other pulling device for advancing the strip or filament.Alternatively, the edges of the strip or filament can be engaged byfriction drive means for advancing purposes.

The invention is not limited to a pair of strips connected to oppositeside regions of each component so that the components are suspendedbetween the strips. With small components that are light in weight, oneside support alone is sufficient to support a series of such components,for example, a small header with only 1 or 2 positions. Also, in theexample so far given, the component is separated from the pair ofsupporting strips by an upward pushing force, which will tear the stripmaterial at the component body, or pull out the strip material from thecomponent body. This is not essential. With a one-carrier strip support,the component can be pulled laterally with respect to the longitudinaldirection of the carrier to detach it from the carrier. Alternatively,the component at the leading edge of the strip can be pulled offfrontwards with a force in the the longitudinal direction of the carrierto detach it from the carrier. While pulling or pushing on the carrierto detach the component from the carrier is preferred, depending uponthe component size and the strength of the carrier, the component canalso be separated from its carrier supports by pulling or pushing on thecomponent or by severing it from its carrier supports. In any case, noharm results if part of the carrier strip is left in place in thedetached component and protrudes from the component side. FIG. 12illustrates header assemblies 106 supported by carrier strips 28, 30,with the leading assembly 108 separated from the strips by a force 110exerted in the longitudinal direction of the strips. As a furtheralternative, with shorter components but the same carrier width, it ispossible to use tabs 29 of the same length and with the molding extendedfrom the component sides by thin tabs which are molded and attached tothe strip tabs 29. In this case, cutting of the molded component tabsinstead of the strip tabs would be preferred.

From a different aspect, if the attachment between the strip or filamentand the moldable edge of the component is too weak, the attachment canbe enhanced by adding holding structure to the strip edge. For example,as illustrated in FIG. 11, holes 114 can be punched into the strip edgeregion to be encapsulated. During the molding process, plastic or othermoldable material fills the hole and reinforces the strength of theattachment of the component side to the carrier strip. FIG. 13 shows amodification for the holding structure using small slits 116 in thestrip 118 to increase the holding power to the component. This may bedesirable when the components are supported by only one side strip 118or filament. Other holding structure can also be substituted, such asdimples or rough edges or other means to increase the holding surfacearea.

In the preferred embodiment, a pair of flexible plastic strips serve asthe carrier for the series of components. While preferred, this is notessential. The carrier can also be constituted of a single flexibleplastic strip attached along one side of each component or of a singleor pairs of flexible paper strips or metal strips that will attach toplastic. For example, copper or aluminum foil strips, for example,0.003-0.005 inches in thickness, are flexible and can be attached bymolding to most plastics and can be substituted for the plastic strips.Also, the invention is not limited to strips and can also be implementedby a single flexible filament or pair of filaments, of plastic or metal,which is attached by molding to a side, or encapsulated by molding inthe side, of the molded region of a component. A weakened region foreasy separation of the component from its supporting filament can beprovided by reduced thickness regions in the filament just above andbelow where it attaches to each component. This is illustrated in FIGS.14 and 15, which shows a series of pinless headers 120 each supported atmolded side regions 122 by a strip 124 of plastic, metal or fiber on oneside, and by a monofilament 126 of plastic or metal molded into theopposite side region 128.

As before, when assembled, the resultant supply strip ofcarrier-supported components can be reeled up on a reel for distributionor sale. A feature of the invention is that a large number of componentssupported as described above can be supplied to the PCB fabricators forhandling with the same kind of reel-supplied equipment that is presentlyin wide use. Hence, typically such a reel according to the inventionwill comprise at least six feet of a supply strip of components, whichdepending on component size can amount to hundreds of componentssupplied via a single reel.

While the invention has been described in connection with preferredembodiments, it will be understood that modifications thereof within theprinciples outlined above will be evident to those skilled in the artand thus the invention is not limited to the preferred embodiments butis intended to encompass such modifications.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of fabricating a continuous carrierstrip of electrical or mechanical components, comprising:a) providing atleast one, continuous, flexible filament or flexible strip, the flexiblefilament or strip being separate from component bodies to be added in alater step, b) providing a mold with sections for the component bodies,said mold having along a side a region for receiving the flexiblefilament or strip such that their edge overlaps an edge of the moldsections, c) clamping with the mold portions of the flexible filament orstrip such that a side region overlaps an edge of the mold sections, d)thereafter injecting a moldable material into the mold to form at leastpart of the component bodies molded to and encapsulating an edge regionof the flexible filament or strip into part of the just-formed componentbodies, e) removing the molded component bodies with encapsulatedfilament or strip from the mold and advancing the flexible filament orstrip until next following portions of the moldable filament or stripare in position to be clamped to the mold, f) repeating steps c), d) ande) at least once to form a series of spaced component bodies moldedalong a side to and detachably attached to an edge region of theflexible filament or strip to form a continuous carrier strip containinga plurality of the component bodies, g) the molded connection betweenthe moldable edge of the component bodies and the attached region of thefilament or edge region of the flexible strip being such that individualcomponent bodies will remain attached to the filament or strip duringnormal handling of the filament- or strip-supported component bodies butthe component bodies can be separated from the filament or strip by anapplied separating action without damaging adjacent component bodies. 2.A method of fabricating a continuous carrier strip of electrical ormechanical components as claimed in claim 1, wherein the separatingaction is a pulling or pushing force.
 3. A method of fabricating acontinuous carrier strip of electrical or mechanical components asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the separating action is a cutting action.4. A method of fabricating a continuous carrier strip of electrical ormechanical components as claimed in claim 1, wherein the moldablematerial is a die-castable metal.
 5. A method of fabricating acontinuous carrier strip of electrical or mechanical components,comprising:a) providing a pair of pre-formed spaced, parallel,continuous and separated flexible strips having along at least one edgestructure for advancing the strips, b) providing a mold with sectionsfor electrical or mechanical component bodies, said mold having alongopposite sides regions for receiving the flexible strips such that theirinside facing edges overlap opposite edges of the mold sections, c)clamping with the mold portions of the flexible spaced strips such thatinside edge regions overlap opposite edges of the mold sections, d)thereafter injecting plastic or metal into the mold to form at leastpart of the electrical or mechanical component bodies molded to andencapsulating the edge regions of the spaced strips, e) removing themolded component bodies with encapsulated strips from the mold andadvancing the flexible strips until next following portions of themoldable strips are in position to be clamped to the mold, f) repeatingsteps c), d) and e) at least once to form a series of spaced electricalor mechanical component bodies molded to and detachably suspendedbetween inside facing edge regions of the flexible strips to form acontinuous carrier strip containing a plurality of the electrical ormechanical component bodies, g) the molded connection between themoldable edges of the electrical or mechanical component bodies and thefacing edge regions of the flexible strips being such that individualelectrical or mechanical component bodies will remain attached to thestrips during normal handling of the strip-supported component bodiesbut the component bodies can be separated from the strips by an appliedseparating force.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the flexible stripsare of a polyester plastic that is different from the plastic or metalused to mold part of the component bodies.
 7. The method according toclaim 5, wherein the components are electrical components that areplastic headers.
 8. The method according to claim 5, wherein, followingstep g), reeling the continuous carrier strip onto a reel.
 9. The methodaccording to claim 5, wherein the material injected is metal in adie-casting process.
 10. A method of fabricating a continuous carrierstrip of electrical components that are plastic headers, comprising:a)providing a pair of spaced, parallel, continuous, flexible strips havingalong at least one edge structure for advancing the strips, b) providinga mold with sections for the electrical components, said mold havingalong opposite sides regions for receiving the flexible strips such thattheir inside facing edges overlap opposite edges of the mold sections,c) clamping with the mold portions of the flexible spaced strips suchthat inside edge regions overlap opposite edges of the mold sections, d)injecting plastic or metal into the mold to form at least part of theelectrical components molded to and encapsulating the edge regions ofthe spaced strips, e) removing the molded components with encapsulatedstrips from the mold and advancing the flexible strips until nextfollowing portions of the moldable strips are in position to be clampedto the mold, f) repeating steps c), d) and e) at least once to form aseries of spaced electrical components molded to and detachablysuspended between inside facing edge regions of the flexible strips toform a continuous carrier strip containing a plurality of the electricalcomponents, said electrical components comprising plastic headers, g)inserting spaced electrical pins into the plastic headers, h) the moldedconnection between the moldable edges of the electrical components andthe facing edge regions of the flexible strips being such thatindividual electrical components will remain attached to the stripsduring normal handling of the strip-supported components but thecomponents can be separated from the strips by an applied separatingforce.
 11. A method of fabricating a continuous carrier strip ofelectrical or mechanical components, comprising:a) providing a pair ofspaced, parallel, continuous, flexible strips having along at least oneedge structure for advancing the strips, b) providing a mold withsections for electrical or mechanical component bodies, said mold havingalong opposite sides regions for receiving the flexible strips such thattheir inside facing edges overlap opposite edges of the mold sections,c) clamping with the mold portions of the flexible spaced strips suchthat inside edge regions overlap opposite edges of the mold sections, d)injecting zinc metal in a die-casting process into the mold to form atleast part of the electrical or mechanical component bodies molded toand encapsulating the edge regions of the spaced strips, e) removing themolded component bodies with encapsulated strips from the mold andadvancing the flexible strips until next following portions of themoldable strips are in position to be clamped to the mold, f) repeatingsteps c), d) and e) at least once to form a series of spaced electricalor mechanical component bodies molded to and detachably suspendedbetween inside facing edge regions of the flexible strips to form acontinuous carrier strip containing a plurality of the electrical ormechanical component bodies, g) the molded connection between themoldable edges of the electrical or mechanical component bodies and thefacing edge regions of the flexible strips being such that individualelectrical or mechanical component bodies will remain attached to thestrips during normal handling of the strip-supported component bodiesbut the component bodies can be separated from the strips by an appliedseparating force.
 12. The method of claim 1, wherein the flexiblefilament or strip is of a different material than the moldable materialused to mold part of the component bodies.